Citizen over 100 Could not Receive Allowance from State Program

Resident of Pushrukauli village in Khulo district Khurizet Surmanidze, 101, could not receive a monetary allowance from the government. 500 lari was delivered to her family 40 days later and she had already passed by that time.

Makvala Surmanidze, daughter-in-law of the late woman: “My mother-in-law was born on February 2, 1912. This money was a birthday present for her and it is unclear why they brought it so late. Representative of the Ministry of Healthcare of Adjara Bezhan Ishkhnelidze said he had brought the money to the village on March 12, but took it back because the woman was already dead.”

Makvala Surmanidze said their family lives in poverty but do not get social allowance. Her salary as a teacher is the only income to their family. She has two children – one of them is disabled and second under-age.

On May 31, Makvala Surmanidze appealed to Archil Khabadze, chairman of Adjara government, with the request to involve her family in the state program but has not received a reply so far.

Human Rights Center tried to contact Bezhan Ishkhnelidze, representative of the Adjara Health and Social Affairs Ministry several times but he did not answer phone calls.

Official website of the Adjara Ministry of Health and Social Affairs (www.molhs.gov.ge) releases information that single monetary allowances are distributed to the citizens over 100 once per annum since 2002. 40 000 lari was allocated on the purpose in the program budget.

Maka Malakmadze, Adjara